Denial

Like the cover of clouds, it is the scrap that the all powerful being allows us: the power of denial. When it comes to self deception, the human mind is capable of the infinite.

From "Lessons in Forgetting" by Anita Nair

Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye to Kya Hai

Ohh Ri Duniya, Oh Ri Duniya

Karwat Lee Soyee Haqeeqat ki Duniya

Mamta ki Bikhri Kahani ki Duniya

Behno ki Siski Jawani ki Duniya

Aadam ke Hawwaa se Rishte ki Duniya

Shayar ke Feekey Lafzo ki Duniya

Ghalib ke Maumin ke Khwaabon ki Duniya

Jaisi Bachi hai Waisee ki Waisee, Bacha Lo Ye Duniya

Apna Samajh ke Apno ke Jaise, Utha Lo ye Duniya

Chhutput Si Baaton Mein Jalne Lagegi, Sambhalo ye Duniya

Katpit ke Raaton Mein Palne Lagegi, Sambhalo ye Duniya

Tumhari Hai Tum Hi Sambhalo ye Duniya

Tumhare ye Kaale Iraado ki Duniya

Ohh Ri Duniya, Ohh Ri Duniya

Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye to Kya Hai??

- From the Movie Gulaal. Lyrics by Piyush Mishra

Of Legs and Walking

Legs, until relatively recently, were the main mode of land transport... Even bicycle is leg dependent, a mere variation on a theme. These days, however, legs are things used only by fitness freaks, the eccentric and the poor as a means of substantive locomotion.

- Sam Miller, in Delhi - Adventures in a Megacity

The Judge

"Mera kaatil hi mera munsif hai,

Kya voh mere haq mein faisla dega"

- Sudarshan Faakir, in "Aadmi Aadmi ko kya dega", a Ghazal

Of then & now

If an ancient Indian of the time of the Upanishads, of the Buddha, or the later classical age were to be set down in modern India, he would see his race clinging to forms and shells and rags of the past and missing nine-tenths of its nobler meaning. He would be amazed by the extent of the mental poverty, the immobility, the static repetition, the cessation of science, the long sterility of art, the comparative feebleness of the creative intuition. 

- Aurobindo Ghose

Zindagi Kis Talaash Mein Hai

Kuch saate, kuch parchhaiyyan, kuch chahat ke sajde,

Kuch behtey baadlo pe rakhi ummeedein, barasti rahi, tarasti rahi,

Chaand aasman pe jade suraakh ki tarah jhaankta raha,

Aur raat kisi andhe kuen ki tarah mooh khole haanfti rahi;

Raaste paaon tale nikalte rahe, na ruke, na thame,

Na Roka, na poocha, Zindagi kis talaash mein hai.

Zindagi thakne lagi hai, 

Aur ye, zindagi ka judwa,

Uski unglee pakde, sheher ki nangi sadko par,

Abhi tak kuch been raha hai, kuch dhoond raha hai

- Gulzar

Death

Said Vilas, the man who wrote letters for three rupees per page - "Nothing is more cruel than a letter cut short for money. It is like death - one moment the words flowing, next moment silence, the thought unfinished, the love unconveyed, the anguish unexpressed."

- From Family Matters, a fiction novel by Rohinton Mistry